Saints 0-0 Bolton - Match Thread

[Gloucester Saint]

5 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Cant believe Bazunu didn't do any stupid passes, dropped catches, stood like a statue, as he did with Saints. 

Keepers only make mistakes if you shoot at the goal with basic accuracy or test them with crosses which have whip/pace on them/attack them, none of which happened.

[West end Saints]

25 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

A showcase of why we aren’t a serious candidate for autos. 
Got to hope for successful reinforcements in jan and that we aren’t too adrift of top 2.

Whilst I appreciate we need to catch the 4 points up over the season, and we will be judged over the season on our total after the deduction, I think you can fairly consider how we are performing on points gained.

We have gained 21 points in 11 games. 1 less than 2nd, 2 less than 3rd. Clearly playing at a level to be in contention.

Even with the deduction we are only 6 points off top with better goal difference.

Our squad depth will also benefit as the season goes on.

Less than 1/4 way through the season.

Since the FA ban threat has disappeared 7 points in less than a week, 2 clean sheets.

Clearly in the race for autos, as well you know!

 

 

 

[Gloucester Saint]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

Another opportunity for Fellows to shine and again he did precious little. Might be time to consider moving him on. Don't like saying that as I thought he'd be a brilliant signing but how long do you give him.

Like Dobbin at PNE, Tom Fellows looked a shadow of the vibrant WBA version yet again.

With BBD, at least he’d had a shocker at Villarreal beforehand.

Can’t just be down to the individual players that they arrive confident and look emasculated and completely shorn of confidence in a Southampton shirt within months of arrival. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Gloucester Saint

[St. Ciervo]

Not on Tonda at all. Sure it looked slow, but we had our open chances and fluffed them catastrophically. Not our day. We will step up against West Ham now in the most Saintsy of ways.  

[die Mannyschaft]

12 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Muamba perhaps is indicative of the players around him in pre-season.

But with Dobbin the club have to work out how PNE got a tune out of him and whether the shape/formation/pattern needs to change and whether that’s worth doing. He’s been tried in three different positions and bar the OK second half midweek has looked like a fish up a tree. No lack of effort and seems like a decent lad but if the question was ‘who can rotate with #10 with Finn?’ he is not the answer. And not at a fee which should have bolstered the forward line.

I dont think Dobbin is a forward maybe he started as a midfielder or right midfielder. Doesn't look like an out and out forward. I think we need a Vardy type player who know when and where to be on the box and can wack the ball in the net from anywhere. We waste far too much time on edge of box stopping,  looking, turning, stopping, passing.  I would rather we spent money on a Vardy or Shearer type hitter of the ball, if there are any these days.

[stknowle]

9 minutes ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Probably best not to comment if you didn’t even watch it all. IMO. 

Oh right. Thanks for your sagely advice and opinion pal. I’ll make sure I don’t post again unless I’ve watched ALL the game.  This is a really serious business after all, you know commenting on a football match on an internet forum. We HAVE to get it right.

[Midfield_General]

Should have won for sure, and a really frustrating result, but every team in the league will have games this season that they should have won but didn't. 

We started the day 5 points off top in 7th place, and we finish the day 6 points off top in 7th place. 

With 105 points left to play for, I'm not sure it's quite the end of the world just yet. it's been a pretty decent week, overall. 

I agree that I'd like him to stop messing about with the formation though. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Midfield_General

[Colinjb]

6 days, three games. 7 points.

Ok.

[Whitey Grandad]

36 minutes ago, BarberSaint said:

Confirmation of what? He saw it so he gives it. If he doesn't know what he's doing (he mostly didn't although he did pull play back after letting it go on for that foul on Dobbin) then as we told him at the game: he's not fit to referee and somehow he got given a whistle.

I really don't know what he was waiting for but in the end he gave up waiting.  I can only assume that he didn't see it. But he should have. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

36 minutes ago, saintant said:

Hope the ref can sleep tonight after watching back the debacle of the stonewall penalty he didn't give.

He won't give a flying fuck.

[Osvaldorama]

Can’t win them all, and at least we didn’t give away a silly goal and lose. 
 

Not replacing Stewart properly is costing us already. Mubama and Dobbin aren’t good enough at finishing for a promotion chasing team. 
 

Onwards and upwards 

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 hour ago, captainchris said:

Not at all clear why Manning was brought on because left back wasn’t where the problem was. Without a proper centre forward our system doesnt operate and we are toothless. 

Manning is more creative than Welington - a way to finish with a more attacking side without giving up the defence completely: We had already brought on Matsuki for Brag IIRC

[Football Special]

17 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Should have won for sure, and a really frustrating result, but every team in the league will have games this season that they should have won but didn't. 

We started the day 5 points off top in 7th place, and we finish the day 6 points off top in 7th place. 

With 105 points left to play for, I'm not sure it's quite the end of the world just yet. it's been a pretty decent week, overall. 

I agree that I'd like him to stop messing about with the formation though. 

Decent week, 7 points without playing that well in any of the 3 games really 

Disappointing today 

Mitigation: 

Injuries to key players, Larin hasn't looked right since international break,  Downes out and Jander still not properly fit 

Bazunu return always felt likely to end like this , criminal we didnt test him properly. 

Missed chances 

And finally, its Bolton Wanderers, the football Gods decide we shall not beat them , dont @ me  MLG about past record having nothing to do with current team, in football these things work in mysterious ways and they have been blessed once again not to lose at St Mary's 

Edited 1 hour ago by Football Special

[Lighthouse]

Well, that was one of the all time games of football. I guess you can't really be too annoyed, considering this is the first game we've failed to score in all season and we have taken seven points from nine in the space of a week. A few thoughts from where I was sat.

• Papa Fellows N'Diaye. WTF was that all about, that was the offsideiest performance I've seen in decades.
• Bragg. Having just come back from suspension for two pretty silly bookings, he looked like he was trying to do it twice in the same week with that booking. The ref waved him away about eight times but he just kept chirping.
• Bree's miss. Good f**king lord.
• The hand ball not given. Good f**king lord.
• Dobbin's miss when one on one. Good f**king lord.
• Larin clearly struggling with something, I assume it's his back still playing up. I hope this doesn't become a recurring problem.
• Scienza and Azaz. A quieter day at the office for our most creative players. Bolton clearly did their homework on us.
• Bazunu. Well, that was a strange looking, "easy 5-0 win". He commanded his defence well, came for crosses and dealt with the only two shots on target I can remember. 
• Wood. How many hours is that no we haven't conceded a goal in his absence? Since about minute 31 at Watford.

Overall I'd say Bolton look like a decent enough and well organised team who won't be in any trouble this year. No shame in a 0-0 here but we can't afford too many of those if we're serious about the autos.

[Oisin]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Well, that was one of the all time games of football. I guess you can't really be too annoyed, considering this is the first game we've failed to score in all season and we have taken seven points from nine in the space of a week. A few thoughts from where I was sat.

• Papa Fellows N'Diaye. WTF was that all about, that was the offsideiest performance I've seen in decades.
• Bragg. Having just come back from suspension for two pretty silly bookings, he looked like he was trying to do it twice in the same week with that booking. The ref waved him away about eight times but he just kept chirping.
• Bree's miss. Good f**king lord.
• The hand ball not given. Good f**king lord.
• Dobbin's miss when one on one. Good f**king lord.
• Larin clearly struggling with something, I assume it's his back still playing up. I hope this doesn't become a recurring problem.
• Scienza and Azaz. A quieter day at the office for our most creative players. Bolton clearly did their homework on us.
• Bazunu. Well, that was a strange looking, "easy 5-0 win". He commanded his defence well, came for crosses and dealt with the only two shots on target I can remember. 
• Wood. How many hours is that no we haven't conceded a goal in his absence? Since about minute 31 at Watford.

Overall I'd say Bolton look like a decent enough and well organised team who won't be in any trouble this year. No shame in a 0-0 here but we can't afford too many of those if we're serious about the autos.

Only thing to add i:

Scienzas miss on 3 minutes. Good f**king lord.

[die Mannyschaft]

32 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Keepers only make mistakes if you shoot at the goal with basic accuracy or test them with crosses which have whip/pace on them/attack them, none of which happened.

Thats a good point. You would expect Saints analysis team to have targeted Bazunu as a weak link and the players to chuck the kitchen sink at him not just a tap washer

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Hope the ref can sleep tonight after watching back the debacle of the stonewall penalty he didn't give.

I hope it keeps him up at night for months and haunts him for the rest of his career; so that if we ever get him again we might get a fair crack of the whip.

[Saint Pete]

47 minutes ago, saintant said:

Another opportunity for Fellows to shine and again he did precious little. Might be time to consider moving him on. Don't like saying that as I thought he'd be a brilliant signing but how long do you give him.

Perhaps it would have been better to start him in his natural position on the right though rather than playing all 3 attacking mids out of position from the start? Just a thought. 

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Muamba perhaps is indicative of the players around him in pre-season.

But with Dobbin the club have to work out how PNE got a tune out of him and whether the shape/formation/pattern needs to change and whether that’s worth doing. He’s been tried in three different positions and bar the OK second half midweek has looked like a fish up a tree. No lack of effort and seems like a decent lad but if the question was ‘who can rotate with #10 with Finn?’ he is not the answer. And not at a fee which should have bolstered the forward line.

I analysed Dobbin's games at PNE. He was always playing second striker behind a massive unit (actually one of three massive units). 

In theory Larin could be that massive unit - but we know we can't play him 90 mins every match, and Muamba whilst big hasn't really learned how to use his size yet. 

It would also give us the headache of where to play Azaz who has most likely been our best player this calendar year. He would be less effective as a winger, and we would be excluding Matsuki who is having a good spell. Plus Fellows and Edozie assuming we're starting Scienza.

This is the issue - you have to turn the team style upside down to accommodate Dobbin.

If I can work that out from an hour on Transfermkt why couldn't the recruitment team when it is literally their job?

Edited 1 hour ago by Patches O Houlihan

[captainchris]

50 minutes ago, saintant said:

Another opportunity for Fellows to shine and again he did precious little. Might be time to consider moving him on. Don't like saying that as I thought he'd be a brilliant signing but how long do you give him.

Agree though he did stop them scoring a certain goal and also still managed to do better than Sienza …. Edozie was better than both of them…. 

[die Mannyschaft]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

No. The replacement for Stewart as rotation centre forward was Mubama. 

Because Dobbin wasn't meant to be a replacement for Archer. Dobbin was primarily brought in to provide competition for Azaz as the 10. 

Half the teams in this division won't have a first choice striker who scores 10 all season. Which out of contract striker do you think is available who has any chance of coming in and getting 10 goals a season at Championship level? 

Are you seriously suggesting that he deliberately didn't give that penalty because he thought it would benefit Middlesborough?

Lankshear is Middlesbrough's first choice number 9 and they don't have anyone of any comparable quality as a 'second striker' either. If he gets injured they're at as much of a disadvantage as we are if Larin gets injured. Both clubs are in the same situation. 

Clubs who ever they are should understand the basics of football. And that includes at least 2 players in each position,  either 2 forwards or play just ind with a backup. Why on earth havd we git 4 goal keepers and the most expensive keeper in Saints history 4th choice.  Sell keeper and get goal scorer

[macca155]

Been a while since we've had a shocker of a ref like that. He robbed Saints of a win, but only after they did it to themselves over and over again. So many misses from point blank range. Hopefully they'll put that right against WHU.

I thought JWP was immense today, involved everywhere. Good to see Bragg back. He's a tidy player but he has to be more disciplined, stop arguing and shirt pulling. Defensive midfielders run a gauntlet of bookings anyway, no need to add to the jeopardy.

Another day those chances go in, but Bolton turned over Wolves last week, so probably best not to underestimate them.

Been a good week, Saints are right in the mix, with two big games to come. 

 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Whatever happened to players shooting first time outside the area? Or just having a crack from distance? We always have to look to make one extra pass…

Today was poor; and we missed Downes and Larin. A lack of a competent striker to support Larin will be the bite in the arse this season.

[Cabrone]

Well that was frustrating. There's always a game like this in a season, hopefully this is the first and last one. It would be very Saints to now get a win at West Ham.

I don't usually comment on refs but this one must have been blind to miss that handball. Shocking decision.

[JohnS]

My first game visiting the stadium for a little while & unfortunately, I’m straight back into the mindset of why did I bloody bother! 😞 

Same old pass it around shite - far too predictable, slow & boring to watch - trying to walk the ball in the net. 

No fight - No desire to be first to the ball & show the attitude to be up for the game, the team that wants to win.  That’s all down to Tonda & he’s not the man - never been the man! 

He’s just lucky he’s got a squad which will beat 70% of the sides/shite in this league without too much input! 

We are a very average side & will get battered soon by the big teams.

Let’s see how Stephens comes out against the West Ham attack

Positives for me today were that finally after many years of calling out the absolute shite in defence - there was a shining light in schlattetback - leap years ahead of any defender we’ve seen for years - absolute quality & pure defending intelligence  

Wellington is so far ahead of Manning in defending as well although not as good going forward 

Thought Perez was very good 

Aziz was amazing - just needs better movement & support in & around him 

Matsuki, Edozie, Dobbin good additions 

Fellows - Blimey - seems jinxed - got to be a better performance in him 

Another very disappointing game 

 

 

[die Mannyschaft]

10 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Whatever happened to players shooting first time outside the area? Or just having a crack from distance? We always have to look to make one extra pass…

Today was poor; and we missed Downes and Larin. A lack of a competent striker to support Larin will be the bite in the arse this season.

We have reverted to a hybrid Russell Martin tactics but without the shooting. I would rather see 10 shots on target saved, hit post than 600 passes on the edge of box then back to halfway line. 

[die Mannyschaft]

4 minutes ago, JohnS said:

My first game visiting the stadium for a little while & unfortunately, I’m straight back into the mindset of why did I bloody bother! 😞 

Same old pass it around shite - far too predictable, slow & boring to watch - trying to walk the ball in the net. 

No fight - No desire to be first to the ball & show the attitude to be up for the game, the team that wants to win.  That’s all down to Tonda & he’s not the man - never been the man! 

He’s just lucky he’s got a squad which will beat 70% of the sides/shite in this league without too much input! 

We are a very average side & will get battered soon by the big teams.

Let’s see how Stephens comes out against the West Ham attack

Positives for me today were that finally after many years of calling out the absolute shite in defence - there was a shining light in schlattetback - leap years ahead of any defender we’ve seen for years - absolute quality & pure defending intelligence  

Wellington is so far ahead of Manning in defending as well although not as good going forward 

Thought Perez was very good 

Aziz was amazing - just needs better movement & support in & around him 

Matsuki, Edozie, Dobbin good additions 

Fellows - Blimey - seems jinxed - got to be a better performance in him 

Another very disappointing game 

 

 

Same old pass it around shite - far too predictable, slow & boring to watch - trying to walk the ball in the net.

Hope I dont see this at WHU next week.

[Nieldy]

Just one of those days, every team has them.

Positive week. Seven points. Three clean sheets, only six points off top, long way to go.

I'm sure we will have some more off days this season but still confident we will be there or thereabouts 😁😁

[JSpeake]

Like a lot of the posts I’m not sure where Dobbin is supposed to be playing and what was the plan when we signed him. I think there is a decent player there, but he isn’t a striker, and if he isn’t there to take the pressure off Finn Azaz then what was the idea behind the signing ?

as for Mubama - couldnt see the point of the signing at all. Obviously can’t be trusted to replace Larin directly and as a raw talent we’re supposed to bring him on with game time (at the risk of losing points because he’s not quite the article yet) just for City to take him back when we’ve put the hard yards in - what’s the point.

will need to bite the bullet and pay for a proper Stewart replacement in January.

Edited 28 minutes ago by JSpeake

[LGTL]

Lankshear is literally the difference between automatics and not in this squad. I can’t believe we missed out on him. 

[JSpeake]

1 minute ago, LGTL said:

Lankshear is literally the difference between automatics and not in this squad. I can’t believe we missed out on him. 

Imagine if we had spent £10m on Lankshear rather than £9m on Dobbin (yes I know - plus another £10m if we were promoted - but that is a yeh,  whatever against £150m of TV rights).

[Lord Duckhunter]

Very frustrating. Some awful finishing and WTF was that formation at  the start of the game. Bolton looked ok, but we should have won. 

Prowe’s best game since his return. Another clean sheet, fucking look along the line,  & Dobbin is still pony. 

Edited 10 minutes ago by Lord Duckhunter

[Sheaf Saint]

A frustrating day, no doubt. But look at it this way...

This time last week, who among us would have claimed to be unhappy with 3 clean sheets and 7 points from those games? 

Not many, I suspect.